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Welcome to Dark Dorset 

Welcome to the Dark Dorset website - Dorset's premier website devoted to local folklore, customs, mysteries and the unexplained.

Based on the publication Dark Dorset: Tales of Mystery, Wonder and Terror by Robert. J. Newland and Mark. J. North. and Dark Dorset Calendar Customs by Robert. J. Newland. This site is an online compendium of information relating to local folklore and mysteries that can be discovered in the county of Dorset.

Click on the menu on the left of your screen to explore the wonderful world of Dark Dorset.

The site is regularly updated, so I do hope that you come back soon!

For more updates visit us also on

January

• The New Year 
  

January was established as the first the first month of the year by the Roman Calendar. It was named after the god Janus, the god of beginning and transitions. As depicted on All Saint's Church, Dorchester, he had two faces which allowed him to look backwards at the old year, and the other looked forward to what would happen in the coming year.

It is the beginning of the new year, when most people reflect on the year before and practice the custom of making New Year resolutions, in which they commit themselves to better behaviour and healthier life choices.

• Mummers and Mumming
  

Towards the end of the last century many English villages had their Yuletide mummers. A number of young men would form themselves into a company, usually of five to eleven members, according to the size of the play. Some plays were much longer than others.

The Symondsbury Mumming Play is the most complete of any of these plays. This play has eleven characters, Father Christmas, Room, King of Egypt, St. George, St. Patrick, a Doctor, four warriors, Servant-man, Dame Dorothy and Tommy the Pony. The traditional dress of the warriors was usually a soldier's uniform, decked with ribbons, streamers and sashes. The head-dress was in the form of a helmet with ribbons falling to mask the face completely from view.

Symondsbury Mummers are still in existence today, their play being performed on New Year's Day every year in the car park of the local village inn The Ilchester Arms at around 8.00pm.  

Click here to read more about 'The Symondbury Mummers'

• Old Twelfth Night and The Burning of the Ashen Faggot
  

Old Twelfth Night’ occurs on 17th January and is the traditional date to ‘Wassail Apple Orchards’. The word ‘wassail’ is derived from the Anglo Saxon ‘wes hál’ meaning ‘be whole’ or ‘be of good health’. ‘Apple Wassailing’ or ‘Apple Howling’ as it is sometimes called is an ancient ceremony performed to ensure a healthy and plentiful crop of fruit in the coming year.

Of all the trees the apple was believed to be full of ancient enchantment enshrining the potency of nature. It was the tree of fairyland and paradise, for its fruit was a food of cheer that could be fermented into cider. The owners of apple orchards were well aware of the trees power and on Old Twelfth Night they made sure it was roused from its dormancy. With lanterns to drive away the dark, the wassailers would trudge off to their orchards carrying horns,shotguns, pots and pans and a large pail of cider. Once there, all would gather around the oldest tree known as the ‘Apple Tree Man’. It was believed that the Apple Tree Man housed its own enchanted spirit and upon him alone depended the fate of the whole orchard.

Another Old Twelfth Night, West Country custom is the burning of an ‘Ashen Faggot’ sometime called an ‘Ashton Faggot’. The Ashen Faggot (sometimes called ashton fagot) is an old English Christmas tradition from in Devonshire and Somersetshire, similar to that of the Yule log and related to the wassail tradition. The wassail party passes around a bundle of ash sticks, twigs or branches—the ashen faggot—bound with green ash withies, which is then placed onto the fire. As each binding bursts, the watchers toast it with a drink. Some traditions had the unmarried women each choosing a withy, and the first one whose tie snapped would be married the next year.

On 19th January 2012, Shave Cross Inn will be holding their Ash 'n' faggot burning with the Wessex Morris Men with Music, Dancing and Singing at 7.00pm onwards for more information visit there website at www.theshavecrossinn.co.uk

Click here to read more about 'The Burning of the Ashen Faggot'

• Plough Tide
  

8th January 2011 is 'Plough Sunday'.  This marked the start of Plough Tide a short agriculture festival marking the return to work after the Christmas season and the start of new year ploughing.

The origins of Plough Sunday go back a long way, at least into medieval times. On the first Sunday after Epiphany, the parish ploughs, bedecked with ribbons, would be dragged to church to be blessed, as the ploughing season began. On Plough Monday the teams would drag the ploughs round the village, seeking contributions for an 'Ale' or night of revelling at the tavern. They were often accompanied by musicians, molly dancers, an old woman or a boy dressed as an old woman, called the "Bessy", and a man in the role of the "fool". Plough Tuesday would be spent, more often than not, in recovering. Then on Wednesday the work would begin in earnest.

The Dorsetarian

The Dorsetarian is an online journal featuring a selection of articles and stories on local folklore, mysteries and the unexplained submitted by visitors to this website.

Recent contributions include:-

• Folklore, Customs and Ghost Stories in Sherborne - Elisabeth Bletsoe of Sherborne Museum explores the folklore, customs and hauntings of this ancient Dorset market town.

• Well Dressing and Sacred Water - Dorset Archaeologist Chris Tripp, looks at the folk customs and traditions associated with water and how these ancient rituals still remain with us to this day.

• Folklore of William Barnes - We revisit an early article from the 1920s written by local Folklorist and Historian, John Symonds Udal. He discusses folklore of the county and how it influenced the writings and poetry of Dorset dialectologist Rev. William Barnes.

• Cerne Abbas - A brief history of the village with local Legends and Customs.
  

• Sea Dragons, Fairy Loaves & Serpents of Stone - Dr. Karl Shuker explores the folklore and proto-scientific beliefs attached to Lyme Regis's most famous fossils.

• Daisy Wheels and a Ritual Landscape in Dorset - Ric Kemp examines the strange, centuries-old religious symbols and carvings which can be found in churches in and around Dorset.

Events

Who's Afeard?

Tales of Dorset's seadogs, soldiers and smuggling men

24th February 2012, 7.30 pm at the Dorset County Museum

'Time and Tide' -Robin Plowman, Sopie Bond and Geoff Payne are all seasoned, well-respected folk performers, each with a natural interest in and affinity with the music and history of our county.

They have drawn their material from our county's records, collective memory and folk memory, and used songs and tunes from the Hammond Collection and the Hardy manuscripts to complement the anecdotes of these hitherto unsung, colourful, local heroes.

 Advanced tickets are £9.00 (£10 on the door) and are available in person from the Museum Shop or by way of a stamped self-addressed envelope sent to the

Museum Shop,
Dorset County Museum,
High West Street,
Dorchester,
DT1 1XA.

For more enquiries telephone 01305 262735 or alternatively email shop@dorsetcountymuseum.org

More information visit www.dorsetcountymuseum.org

Reviews

Haunted Weymouth by Alex Woodward

Drawing on historical and contemporary sources, 'Haunted Weymouth' by local ghost tour guide Alex Woodward,  is sure to send a shiver down the spine of anyone daring to learn more about the haunted history of the area. Including many previously unpublished stories, this book will appeal to both serious ghost hunters and those who simply want to discover what frights lurk beneath the surface of this once royal seaside resort.

For full review click here

The Recollections of Rifleman Harris Audio CD Read by Jason Salkey

The Recollections of Rifleman Harris Audio CD is abridged from an 1848 first edition of this famous historical memoir of a Rifleman Benjamin Randell Harris, from the 95th Rifles, in the Napoleonic Wars. This CD production by Explore Multimedia is read by Jason Salkey, who played the character of ‘Rifleman Harris’ in the Sharpe TV Series and provides a brilliant complement to his Harris diaries DVD series.  Sound FX are provided by The 95th Rifles Re-enactment Society. A musical score by Adam Wakeman adds to this excellent production.

For full review click here

Shock! The Black Dog of Bungay: A Case Study in Folklore by Dr. David Waldron and Christopher Reeve

The tale of the Black Dog of Bungay and the infamous attack on the church of St. Marys in 1577, has inspired and fascinated residents and visitors to the town for centuries along with tales of Black Shuck the Ghostly Dog of Norfolk.

To this day, sightings of the Black Dog are common through the region and form an integral part of local folklore and myth. At the same time, the history of the legend itself tells its own tale of the town of Bungay and how the community has responded to crisis through local folklore and myth.

This book, a collaborative effort between local historian Christopher Reeve and historian and anthropologist Dr. David Waldron, traces the rise of this story from its origins in the trauma of the English Reformation to the contemporary era where it has become a central part of Bungay’s communal and civic identity and a colourful and intriguing aspect of local folklore.

For full review click here

  Now available on DVD from Newland Media

• Seasonal Customs of England: Blazing Barrels & Midwinter Masks - The West Country Part 1

Seasonal Customs England is the home of many diverse customs and traditions. From the Spring rites of May Day - hobby 'oss'es and floral dancing and May queens crowned. To peculiar village rights to gather wood, to the fire festivals of autumn, when the flaming tar barrels are hoisted on broad shoulders and the Guy is burned on huge bonfires and to the Winter festivals of mummers and the wassail of orchards.

Now available from Newland Media on DVD - Seasonal Customs of England: Blazing Barrels & Midwinter Masks - The West Country Part 1.  A celebration of some of the exciting customs you will only find in England. From the incredibly dangerous blazing tar barrels of Ottery St Mary to the turning of the Devil Stone, and the Punky Night custom forerunner of Trick or Treating to the Midwinter Mummers plays from Dorset and Devon. Rounded off with a Wassail and Faggot Burning. It's traditional fayre like this that keeps old England alive! Extra Features include the Original Welsh Border Morris Men on their annual (and only) tour before Christmas; the ancient 'kissing the fish' initiation; Mummers Play with the Frome Valley Morris Mummers and Pumpkin Carving.

Overall running time approx 70mins

Price: £7.99 UK £9.99 International Orders

•  Mummers Plays of England 'In Comes I - Wessex -

'In Comes I' takes an informative look at the exciting 'mumming' tradition with interviews and asides from Frome Valley Mummers and others. Look out for some terrific revived plays of morris dancers: Frome Valley Morris, Wessex Morris Men, Babylon and the Dartington Morris Men to the almost unbroken traditions of the Paperboys of Marshfield in Gloucestershire and the rustic charm of the play from Symondsbury in Dorset. Entertaining and insightful with a hint of magic and mystery. You'll want to pick up a sword and take on a knight or two!

Over 90 minutes of mumming action! Double disc set with extra features.

Price: £7.99 UK £9.99 International Orders  

DVDs can be ordered online via:- Mail Order and Paypal

Ghost Walks

If you are looking for something different this year, then ghost tours can provide some great entertainment, especially if they're ghost tours after dark. With Dorset having a lot of ghosts, it stands that there will be quite a number of ghost tours and haunted walks to be enjoyed. Click on the Ghost to the right to see our 'Ghost Walk Page' - a collection of haunted walks, some permanent, some seasonal, which you can investigate.

Please Note - Most of these guided ghost tours will require booking - and because of the nature of these ghost tours you should always at least contact the organisers (as they are NOT organised by Dark Dorset) to ensure there have been no changes to the plans as changes can occur at any time for many reasons.

Our Publications

Dark Dorset: Tales of Mystery, Wonder and Terror by Robert. J. Newland and Mark. J. North.	Dark Dorset Calendar Customs by Robert. J. Newland	Dark Dorset Fairies by Robert. J. Newland